Does anyone have any advice to create a lovely looking flower bed/border

[Someaddedsugar]

I'm really hoping someone can help.

I am not a gardener - more someone who buys plants that make me smile. However this has led to a rather random group of colours that just looks awful.

I'm happy leaving the multicoloured rose bushes as they are but now have a clear area of border/bed approx 3m long by 1m deep, and at the moment I have one red hydrangea and one Ophelia hydrangea. The bed/border sits against a brick wall that is covered in ivy. To the left are one very well established but tall purple buddleja (sp?) and two olive trees that are happy and very green, and on the right is a black metal arch over a bench that is covered in jasmine that has white flowers. The border with the olive trees is almost separated by the buddleja.

Neither hydrangea is well established yet with the largest being approx 40cm. I would really like something that is visually appealing with reds and creams however I'm aware the red plant may change depending on the soil ph levels.

It would be lovely if any suggestions included something that would have some greenery all year round.

I do also have 20 tulip bulbs in the same colour ways that my son chose yesterday (fill a box providing entertainment in the garden centre yesterday 😂).

Any guidance or advice would be hugely appreciated!

I grow a large number of summer flowers from seed each spring. They are cheap to grow from seed and you can experiment with colours. Geraniums, zinnia, cosmos and some plug plants like rudbeckia are all colourful.

Thanks @TodayInahurry - can you recommend any particular stockists?

I think the best thing with a border is repetition and odd numbers. So don't just have one of each plant plonked together but repeat the same plant along the border. And odd numbered groups of 3 or 5 plants look lots better than 2 or 4.

So for example in my border I have an evergreen structure of three choysia shrubs and five evergreen grasses spaced out along the border and ivy on the fence. I then fill in with three hydrangeas, five dahlias, three rose shrubs etc etc. Lots of tulip and daffodil bulbs planted for spring colour before the other things flower and I agree with a PP about annuals. I grow cosmos from seed every year to plant out in the border and fill in any gaps and then just pull it out when it's gone over.

Colour wise it depends. I personally like tones to be similar so everything in my border is either evergreen or flowers in white, pale pink, pale purple or pale yellow. However I do think contrasting strong colours can look good too so that's just personal preference.

Yellow shouts out to be looked at so can take attention from eg pale blues, pinks

Higgledy garden v good for annual seeds and if you start them now you'll have an amazing strong display next year. Cosmos purity are a particular favourite of mine and would work with your current shrubs. Also, geranium Rozanne is reliable year on year and flowers for months !(light blue purple flowers)

I think of a border as a canvas and the plants as blocks of colour. I like to put largeish blocks, and repeat them if there is room. So I'll put 2-6 plants of the same type right next to each other, so they look like one much larger plant. Think of the way they grow when you decide how to place them. For example, helenium seem to grow much more upright and tighter than echinaceas, so I would put maybe 5 heleniums in the same amount of space as I would put 3 echinaceas.

Annuals are good for filling in gaps, but I've found to my cost that if I overplant them some of them will compete with the perennials/shrubs which are not fully established, and I have to keep cutting them back. They grow very, very fast, so use with a bit of care.

Your border is only 3m long so not massive. I would imagine it would soon be overcrowded if you plant too many shrubs. Euonymus Emerald n' Gold is a well behaved evergreen dwarf shrub that can be clipped and shaped. New growth is bright yellow but fades to cream and green as it ages.

Cultivars of potentilla fruticosa shrubs flower a very long time. They are not evergreen but I would not be without it, it's a wonderful little shrub, won't need clipping every year but responds well when it has been cut back.

Tulips are ideal in the border. Unlike daffodils, the leaves don't take forever to die back so you can tidy up the border relatively soon after flowering. Choose Darwin types of tulips and species. They are more likely to come back year after year.

Your buddleia should be cut right down every year so it doesn't get taller and rangey with all the flowers too high to appreciate.

Bearded irises look great at the front of sunny borders. The leaves continue to look attractive long after the flowers have faded. They should never need staking.

Thank you all so much, I'm ready to do some online searches for the plants you've referenced. I will no doubt be back tomorrow with more questions!

We've been quite lucky as on the opposite side we have bushes and shrubs that are well established and new green plants just fit in nicely, whereas with this blank border I'm at a total loss as to what to do!

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply - it really is appreciated